Survival in adverse cold weather conditions depends substantially on the protection afforded by the garments worn by the individual. Those garments should exhibit good thermal comfort characteristics under various types of exposure conditions. A known cold weather garment system provides upper and lower body garments which afford substantial cold weather protection for the torso excluding the feet, hands and head. Such system, known as the Phillips System, includes an outer fabric of nylon or the like, an inner lining fabric of loosely-knit or woven construction, and an intermediate open-cell foam disposed between the inner and outer fabrics and connected to the fabrics by stitching along the edges of the garment and elsewhere, if required.
A cold weather garment, which is an improvement on the Phillips System, is described and illustrated in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 879,053, filed June 26, 1986, of common assignee herewith. According to that invention, the face of the intermediate foam is convoluted. In that manner, increased flexibility and moisture vapor transmission through the garment and a reduction in the amount of material and weight of the garment are achieved. Moreover, all of that is accomplished without any decrease in the warmth retention properties of the garment. However, the garments constructed in accordance with the Phillips System and those of the above-referenced patent application are concerned with thermal comfort characteristics and not the additional cold weather exposure situation where an individual may become immersed in cold water.